Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Summer Memories

Summer didn't officially begin for me until I had my girl back from Thailand.

We had a bumper crop of fruit!

Which resulted in vanilla peach pies and a freezer full of crisp filling!

We had a very successful tomato season as well. If you follow me on instagram, you are well aware of this. Tomato pictures are a regular occurrence.

This shot is one of my favorites, and an average almost daily pick.

Ok, one last pic. This whopper weighed almost 1 1/2 pounds!

And the little $2.99 basil plant I picked up at Trader Joe's is thriving as well! I've made about 10 cups of pesto so far (I freeze in small containers). The more I cut that little plant, the more it grew! We put pesto on our garden tomatoes, toss it into pasta, and my favorite - smothering it on grilled chicken or salmon. Definitely the taste of summer.Emma wanted to update her room and needed a new desk. We found one on Craig's list which was just perfect. We tried our hand at refinishing and it came out great. Love the "Tiffany" blue color on the desk and her fun orange wall she chose. We also did a chair in antique white. Now I want to refinish a bunch of stuff in the house! Maybe I'll find the time in the fall.

I joined my handsome working men downtown for lunch at a great place called Ocho. Think Chipotle turned organic with lots more interesting choices - it's awesome. Drew had a full-time internship at an investment firm doing accounting work. So proud of him for working every day of his summer. He has a couple weeks off now before starting his senior year at Master's!

We had a late celebration of Emma's 19th birthday in Newport. We made it a beach day and enjoyed dinner at our favorite spot, the Crab Cooker.

I always get the combination plate with coleslaw and romano potatoes. It is so delish. They also have an awesome Manhattan (tomato based) clam chowder. Great place to go for reasonable seafood and great ambience!

We like to take the ferry over to Balboa Island for a Balboa Bar. It's the quintessential So Cal summer activity.

Though there is a battle over which Balboa Bar stand is best, we like Dad's. The competitor doesn't have as good of toppings. I prefer the frozen bananas, as their ice cream is pretty low quality.

Drew celebrated his 21st birthday with the date of his choice to a nice restaurant.

Stepanie's 21st was just a couple weeks later! We had a joint birthday dinner with the Tubbs and DeShongs at our house and Emma did some really cute decorations.

Stephanie loves the Princess Cake from Berolina bakery. It is pretty much the best cake ever.

Unfortunately, this gorgeous cake slid off the cake stand as I was holding it and fell onto the patio! There was absolute dead silence after I dropped it - then Emma recalls I said in a very calm voice, "oops I dropped the cake." Then I started laughing and everyone else did too! The funny thing is, we scooped up the cake and every bite was eaten. At least I made the evening memorable.

Also, summer consisted of lots of preparation for the upcoming Master's Kids year! Excited about this year's ladies I get to serve. Also, Emma is going to be helping me out so I'm really thankful for that!And lastly, we got to spend a wonderful afternoon with my dear friend Pam and her daughter Catherine. We got to have Catherine along on our recent camping trip, and her mom just flew out from North Carolina to help her move into the Master's College dorms. We are so excited to have Catherine back here in Cali! She is one of our special "extra daughters." We did lunch at a great place called Lemonade in Pasadena.Loved the menu, will definitely be back to this adorable place!

We all got pedicures after lunch. So fun!Enjoy the last few days of summer. All those fall responsibilities are just around the corner!

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About Me

I live in a rural pocket of Los Angeles and am a Christian, a wife, a mother, and a grammie. My family is my biggest joy. I simply love being a homemaker and sharing bits of our blessed ranch life here on my blog.
Why "e-wife"? My husband nicknamed me that because I buy anything I can online. So, contrary to popular belief, the "e" actually stands for "electronic" and not "excellent" - though I do strive to be an excellent wife! ~ Proverbs 31:10